Basket Lifting Arrangement for a Dishwasher

ABSTRACT

This invention relates to a dishwasher comprising a wash cabinet ( 10 ) having a bottom, two opposite side walls ( 11 ), an upper and a rear wall and an opening that normally is covered by a front door ( 12 ). The dishwasher is provided with at least one lower basket ( 13 ) for the dish being cleaned, said basket being movable between a first position inside the cabinet and a second position mainly outside the cabinet. The dishwasher is at each side of the opening provided with a support ( 21 ) arranged to move mainly vertically in or close to the side walls ( 11 ) for raising the lower basket ( 13 ) from a lower to an upper position and vice versa. The supports ( 21 ) are under the influence of a lifting means ( 18 ) arranged to move the supports from an inactive position out of engagement with the lower basket ( 13 ) to an active position in which they are in engagement with the lower basket.

This invention relates to a dishwasher comprising a wash cabinet havinga bottom, two opposite side walls, an upper and a rear wall and anopening that normally is covered by a front door the dishwasher beingprovided with at least one lower basket for the dish being cleaned, saidbasket being movable between a first position inside the cabinet and asecond position mainly outside the cabinet, the dishwasher at each sideof the opening being provided with a support arranged to move mainlyvertically in or close to the side walls for raising the lower basketfrom a lower to an upper position and vice versa

Household dishwashers of the floor standing type having means forlifting the lower basket in order to make it easier to load or unloadthe basket are previously known in the art. The major part of such knowndevices are provided with torque link arrangements, see for instanceU.S. Pat. No. 5,115,822, arrangements for lifting the door together withthe basket, see U.S. Pat. No. 6,510,858, or manually operated swing armsystems, see JP 10-179495. These arrangements have however proved to beunsatisfactory with regard to stability and safety and moreover thearrangements are rather complicated and hence expensive. It is alsopreviously known to provide a dishwasher with a height adjustmentmechanism for an intermediate basket that is placed between a lower andan upper basket, see US 2003/0042825. This mechanism is provided withmeans at each side for supporting the guide rails on which the basketrests. The arrangement is primarily intended for adjusting the spaceabove or below the intermediate basket in order to make it possible towash details having different sizes and the arrangement has a limitedvertical movement possibility.

The purpose of this invention is to create an ergonomic liftingarrangement for a lower dishwasher basket making it possible for theoperator to easily pick out the dish from the basket without the needfor bending his back. An additional purpose is to create an arrangementthat is stable and safe to use as well as simple and reliable. This isachieved by means of an arrangement having the characteristics mentionedin the claims.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference tothe accompanying drawings on which FIG. 1 schematically shows aperspective view of a dishwasher with the lower basket in a lowerposition, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the dishwasher with the lowerbasket in a lifted up position whereas FIG. 3 is a partly brokenperspective view showing a part of the lifting mechanism in twodifferent positions.

As appears from FIG. 1 the dishwasher comprises a wash cabinet 10provided with a bottom, two side walls 11, an upper and a rear wall andan opening that normally is covered by a front door 12. An upper and alower basket 13 (upper basket not shown) are provided in the cabinet andthe baskets can be pulled out from their position within the cabinet toa position outside the cabinet. The dishwasher is in a conventional wayalso provided with rotating wash arms, filter means, a circulation pump,an outlet pump and mechanical and electrical control means fordistributing cleaning liquid into the cabinet as well as to circulatethe liquid in the cabinet in order to clean the dish which is placed onthe baskets before the liquid is emptied from the cabinet. Thelastmentioned means are however not shown and described in detail sincethey are not a part of the present invention.

The lower basket 13 which is prowided with several rolls 14 can bepulled out from the cabinet 10 by the operator such that the wheels areguided in elongated recesses 15 arranged on the inner side of the door12 when the door is in a folded down, mainly horizontal position. Thelower basket 13 is at its innermost end and at each side provided with aU-shaped catch portion 16 the purpose of which will be explained below.

Each side walls 11 is at its front part provided with a C-shaped rail 17extending almost from the bottom of the cabinet to its top and in whicha slider 18 is guided for vertical motion. The slider can be raised andlowered by means of a wire 19 that via pulleys (not shown) mounted inthe side walls are connected to a an electric motor (not shown) that canbe activated by a control means 20. At each end of at least one of therails 17 there is a switch (not shown) stopping the upwards or downwardsmovement of the slider 18. The slider 18 is at its front side providedwith a support such as spring loaded arm 21 that can be turned about anaxis 22 and having a hook 23. The arm can be turned from an uprightposition, see the lower part of FIG. 3, in which it the arm restsagainst a forwardly extending flange portion 24 of the rail 17 to afolded out position, see the upper part of FIG. 3, in which the armrests against a shoulder 25 of the slider 18.

The dishwasher is further provided with two wires 25 each having one endsecured to one of the sliders 18 whereas the other end is secured to aspring (not shown) arranged within the door 12. The wires 25 run freelythrough an aperture 26 at the side edges of the door 12 and are underthe influence of the spring but the pull out motion of the wires fromthe door is restricted by a separate stop member (not shown), secured tothe wire inside the door, or the spring and engaging the door wall whenthe wires have been pulled out to their end positions.

The arrangement operates in the following manner. When picking out thedish from the lower basket the operator pulls out the lower basket 13from the cabinet 10 and the rolls 14 are thus running in the elongatedrecesses 15 on the door 12. Then the operator pushes the control means20 such that the electric motor of the winding arrangement is startedwhich means that the wires 19 simultaneously lift the sliders 18 fromtheir lower position illustrated in the bottom of FIG. 3 to a somewhatraised position shown in the upper part of the same figure. Because ofthe spring forces acting on the arms 21 and the successive rising motionabove the upper end of the flanges 24 the arms gradually are turned andfinally reach their folded out positions in which the arms rest on theshoulders 27 of the sliders 18. Further rising motion of the slides 18means that the hooks 23 arranged on the arms 21 move into the catchportions 16 of the basket 13 and start to lift the inner end of thebasket.

Simultaneously the wires 25 are gradually pulled out from the door 12through the aperture depending on the wire interconnection with thesliders 18 until the stop member on the wire engages the inside wall ofthe door. Then the door starts to turn upwards at the same time as thefront rollers 14 start to roll upwards in the recesses 15. Thus,continued raising of the sliders 18 means that the basket is graduallylifted. When the sliders reach the upper position of the rails theswitches will stop the electric motor and hence the basket will now bein a lifted up position such that it is easy to pick out the dish.Lowering the basket will talce place in the reverse order afteractivating the control means 20.

Instead of supporting the basket at the front side by the door and atthe rear side by the support arms it is also possible to use solely onesupport arm at each side of the basket. These support arms could forinstance be hidden in the side walls of the dishwasher when not beingactivated and be folded out when being activated such that they comeinto engagement with the basket and lift the basket to an upperposition.

1: Dishwasher comprising a wash cabinet (10) having a bottom, twoopposite side walls (11), an upper and a rear wall and an opening thatnormally is covered by a front door (12) the dishwasher being providedwith at least one lower basket (13) for the dish being cleaned, saidbasket being movable between a first position inside the cabinet and asecond position mainly outside the cabinet, the dishwasher at each sideof the opening being provided with a support (21) arranged to movemainly vertically in or close to the side walls (11) for raising thelower basket (13) from a lower to an upper position and vice versacharacterized in that that the supports (21) are under the influence ofa lifting means (18) arranged to move the supports from an inactiveposition out of engagement with the lower basket (13) to an activeposition in which they are in engagement with the lower basket. 2:Dishwasher according to claim 1 characterized in that said support (21)is a turnable or extendable arm. 3: Dishwasher according to claim 1characterized in that said lifting means (18) is activated by anelectric motor connected to a control means (20). 4: Dishwasheraccording to claim 3 characterized in that said electric motor via awire system (19) is connected to the lifting means (18). 5: Dishwasheraccording to claim 1 characterized in that the lifting means (18)comprises a slider that is guided mainly vertically by a rail (17). 6:Dishwasher according to claim 1 characterized in that the dishwasherfurther includes a door turning mechanism synchronizing the raisingmotion of the supports with the door turning motion such that the basketis supported by said supports (21) as well as the door (12). 7:Dishwasher according to claim 6 characterized in that the door isconnected to the lifting means via a mechanical connection. 8:Dishwasher according to claim 7 characterized in that said mechanicalconnection is a wire (25). 9: Dishwasher according to claim 8characterized in that the door is provided with an aperture (26) throughwhich the wire (25) runs into the door and that the end of the wire inthe door is connected to a spring. 10: Dishwasher according to claim 2characterized in that the arm (21) is spring loaded and cooperates witha flange (24) or the like that turns the arm from a horizontal to avertical position when the lifting means (18) reaches its lowerposition.